A Bird May Love a Fish
by orangekangaroo
Summary: Kaldur and Dick Grayson, Aqualad and Nightwing. They are together in a post-time skip where Kaldur didn't go deep cover and he's still with the team. A short fluffy piece about their relationship. A fan request.
1. Kaldur's Room

**So, this is a fan request from a new friend, MoonKingdomlover. I don't always do fan requests, but this one seemed interesting to me. So...yeah. Enjoy. And keep any homophobic flame comments in your brains where they belong and not on my story. Constructive criticism only. **

**This is post-time skip but Kaldur didn't go deep cover. He's still with YJ.**

Kaldur never knew he was there until it was two late. The boy always managed to sneak up on his older friend. Kaldur supposed that was only normal for the former student of Batman. Dick Grayson never ceased to surprise the Atlantean. Tonight, Dick had seemingly appeared out of nowhere behind Kaldur as he worked on his part of the mission report. Even though he was no longer the leader of the team, it was hard to break the habit of writing reports, and Dick welcomed the help when the paperwork was overwhelming.

Tonight, however, he had something other than paperwork on his mind.

"How do you do it?" Kaldur asked and smiled as Dick leaned down and wrapped his arms around the older's shoulders. "I have not once caught you in the years I have known you."

"It's not that hard. The trick is not to make any sound." Dick laughed quietly. "Come on, you've been working on that thing for hours! Let's do something tonight!"

"I would not have to work on this if you were capable of doing it all by yourself!" Kaldur teased lightly as he let his young lover pulled him out of his chair.

"That's why I have you." Dick whispered as he pulled the (slightly) taller boy's face down and brushed his lips across Kaldur's. They had begun this relationship quite by accident, and it was unexpected for both of them. They had decided not to tell anyone yet, not until a certain old friend of Dick's knew. Kaldur drew him closer and let Dick rest his head in the crook of his neck for a moment before he spoke.

"Have you talked to him about us yet?" Kaldur asked softly. He felt Dick tense, and then sigh as he pulled out of the embrace. "I will assume that means no."

"I just...I lust don't know how to tell him. He's so closed off right now, from me, the Justice League, even Tim." Dick's eyes fell to the floor. "I want to tell him. I'm not ashamed of us, but I can't find the words." Kaldur lifted Dick's chin and put his hand on the back on his neck.

"You will. When the time is right, you will know exactly what to say to him." Kaldur drew the former Robin closer. "And then we will tell the rest of the team. Together." Dick nodded, but he felt a stab of fear at the thought of telling his friends. He knew in his heart that they were his friends, but it was hard not to imagine them rejecting him. In his life he had already lost so many people...

"I know something else we could do together." Dick whispered suggestively to change the subject, though his heart wasn't really in it. Kaldur's eyes widened. Usually the eighteen-year-old was content with their nighttime talks, kisses, and sleeping together. They hadn't gone any further since the day they realized their feelings. Then he saw the look in his teammate's eyes.

"You know that I do not expect that of you if you do not want to." Kaldur said sincerely, and Dick knew he was telling the truth. "I do want you, but not if you are only doing it because you think you have to. To make me happy."

"I know. I know that. I'm sorry." Dick said as he sat down on Kaldur's bed. Sometimes he felt like such a fool in front of the twenty-one year old, but in all honesty he had no past experience with homosexual relationships. "So, what do you want to do tonight?"

"I do have to finish this. I am sorry." Kaldur shrugged apologetically. Dick smiled.

"That's ok. I'll just watch some TV until you're done." Dick said as he stretched out on Kaldur's bed. Twenty minutes later Kaldur heard his breathing slow as the overworked team leader dozed off.

* * *

A few hours later, long after he had returned to his own room to keep their secret, Dick awoke again. This time, however, he was shaking and in a cold sweat. The ghosts of his parents' death danced before his eyes and he pulled his knees up to his chest and wrapped his arms around them. Dick rocked back and forth slightly, wishing he had just stayed in Kaldur's room. The Atlantean had made it clear that Dick was always welcome to stay, and Dick was sure he could sneak out without anyone ever knowing. But he liked to respect the privacy of others, something Batman had taught him.

Tonight was different though. He could feel the fear coursing through him just like it always did when he had nightmares. They were infrequent now, but when they did happen the nightmares instilled the same crushing terror in him as when he was eight years old. Finally, Dick couldn't take it anymore.

He snuck out of his room and used the blind spots in the cameras to make his way to Kaldur's room. The door opened with a soft 'whoosh' then closed behind him and he saw Kaldur shake himself out of his sleep at the sound. Kaldur was always a light sleeper, even the slightest sound woke him.

Kaldur woke to the sound of his door opening and he turned to see Dick in the doorway. Kaldur didn't say a word as he got out of bed and pulled his shaking lover into his arms. Dick buried his face in his lover's shoulder and inhaled his familiar scent. Kaldur pulled away slightly and wiped the tears off his younger teammate's face. Dick was grown up, the leader of Young Justice, and the famous Nightwing, former partner of Batman. But he was also just a kid who lost his parents far too young.

Dick let himself be led to the bed and then tucked into a tight embrace. He relaxed as the fear slowly left him and his eyelids drooped. Then it hit him.

"I'm...I'm going to tell Batman tomorrow." He said sleepily. Kaldur smiled into the back of his head.

"I guess you found the words."

**To be continued. Be ready for Batman and more fluffy bits. Review me!**


	2. Bruce

**So...more fluffy bits. Kinda.**

Bruce was surprised when Dick asked him to train. They rarely spoke anymore, and Bruce could feel his son growing more distant from him each day. But right now, it was just like old times. Dick was flipping around, blocking and landing hits with the same frequency of his mentor. They broke apart and circled each other, both breathing hard. Dick noticed the beads of sweat rolling off his adoptive father's forehead.

"Need a rest?" Dick taunted easily. Bruce grinned as he charged his ward, changing direction twice. The second time, Dick wasn't fast enough and he found himself on the floor in a lock that he still couldn't break.

"Now we can rest." He stood and offered a hand to the younger man.

"Not bad, Bruce." Dick laughed, a deeper version of his old laugh. Bruce raised an eyebrow, sensing a punchline. "For an old man, I mean."

"An old man that can still pin you to the mat." Bruce pointed out as he uncapped a bottle of water. Dick laughed again, feeling some of his old camaraderie with his old mentor. Bruce studied his companion, noting the bags under his eyes. "How are you doing?"

"What do you mean?" Dick asked lightly as he looked for his own bottle of water in his gym bag.

"I haven't seen you in a few days, and even before that I've been so busy with...work, that I barely saw you anyways." Bruce sat on the bench and gestured for Dick to join him.

"Oh, well...Young Justice is going really great. I've managed to recruit a few new members, and the last mission we went on went really well." Dick spoke animatedly.

"Dick, I was asking how _you_ are." Bruce gestured to his eyes. "You haven't been sleeping well, have you?"

"Guess there's no point in telling you otherwise." Dick shrugged. "I never could hide things from you for very long." Bruce was silent, but the look on his face asked Dick what he wanted to know. Dick sighed. "The dreams usually only come back when I'm really stressed."

"What are you stressed about?" Bruce asked. "Do you want to talk about it?"

"Actually, what's go me stressed...kind of has something to do with you." Dick saw the look on Bruce's face and quickly back-tracked. "No, nothing bad. There's just something...I need to tell you something. And I'm not sure how to do it." Dick looked so uncomfortable that Bruce almost laughed, but he didn't want to drive him away. "I don't want you to be...I don't know, ashamed of me."

"I would never be ashamed of you." Bruce said. Then remembering something he used to do with the eight-year-old boy he adopted, he held up his extended little finger. "Pinkie-promise." Dick laughed and wrapped his pinkie finger around Bruce's.

"Ok. Well, a couple of months ago...Remember how Kaldur was stuck in that burning building and I went in to get him? And how a stray flame burned my side? After we got back to the mountain, he came to see me in my room. He was worried about me. Me, when he was the one that was actually in danger of dying." Dick ran a hand through his hair, a nervous tic that he had mostly outgrown. "He yelled at me for endangering myself, even though I know he would have done the same thing for me." He paused, and Bruce waited patiently. He had feeling he knew where this was going. "Um...Then, one thing led to another, and...And well, he...kissed me. And...then, I kissed him back. And then we...Yeah." Dick blushed and Bruce hoped he wouldn't go into much more detail. Dick gripped the edge of the bench to stop his hands from shaking.

"So you're telling me..." Bruce prodded.

"I'm saying that...Me and Kaldur are in a relationship, and I'm...I'm gay." Dick said the last part quickly. He looked down. He didn't want to look at his mentor and his knuckles were turning white from gripping the bench so hard. Bruce looked at his former partner, his ward, his son, and he saw the little boy he had adopted years ago. He thought about all the nights he had comforted the boy when he woke screaming, the training he had devised for the acrobat. Then he saw the young man Dick had grown into, how nervous he was. Bruce stood and Dick felt his shadow fall over him as his father stood in front of him.

"Dick, look at me." Bruce waited until Dick's blue eyes were facing his own darker eyes. "Life is too long to live without the love of another. Trust me, I've made that mistake. Maybe if I hadn't...Well, it may be too late for me. But you're young, and you have to be your own person. You were born this way, and I wouldn't change you for the world." Dick felt his eyes stinging as his adoptive father spoke these words. It had been a long time since they had a real conversation like this.

"So...you're not mad?"

"No." Bruce smiled at him. "It may not be the way I imagined things would turn out, but I still support you. I still love you."

Dick stood and hugged Bruce, lightly at first and then tighter to reciprocate Bruce's grip. Bruce held his son close for the first time in almost a year, and he felt happy again. His son was still his son, that would never change.

"Between you and me, Bruce, I don't think it's too late for you..." Dick giggled mischievously. Bruce stepped back.

"What did you do?"

"I might have mentioned to Miss Kyle that you're free tonight." Dick ducked out of the room. "See you later, Bruce." Bruce rolled his eyes, but Dick popped his head back in the door. "Thanks, Bruce." Then he was gone.

"It's good thing he's faster than me now." Bruce muttered as he headed for his bedroom. He figured he had about two hours before the (mostly) retired Catwoman showed up at his house. At least he didn't have to worry about letting her in. She never needed any help with that.

**So...I hoped you enjoyed it, my few and far between readers.**


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